The Newsletter is based on the radio programme broadcast on March 19 th , 2016, produced by the Foreign Policy Association of Moldova in partnership with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung(FES). The programme is broadcast on the Radio Moldova public channel and on the Vocea Basarabiei Radio. The programme is part of the FES/APE“Foreign Policy Dialogues” Project. The content can be reproduced by mentioning the source. NEWSLETTER MONTHLY BULLETIN MARCH 2016 NR.3(120) Synthesis and Foreign Policy Debates The materials are realized by Lina Grau, foreign policy expert and programme coordinator with APE. TOPICS OF THE EDITION: 1. British Ambassador to Chisinau, Phil Batson : The major risk is that the establishment does not learn from its mistakes and continues to pay lip service to the reform process 2. Ex-Finance Minister, Veaceslav Negrută :”The statements of the Government differ greatly from its actions” 3. Vice-president of the Trade Union Federation of Construction, Oleg Mîrleanu : Without a constructive social dialogue we are not going to succeed The last period was marked by several important events for Moldova. Republic of Moldova has registered an economic decline of 0.5% in 2015. The preliminary data of the National Bureau of Statistics show that the largest decreases were registered in agriculture, trade, and transport sectors. In 2014, Moldova had an increase of 4.6 percent, but“the theft of the billion” from the banking system, the depreciation of the national currency and suspension of the foreign assistance in 2015 have worsened the situation. Romania started providing Moldova humanitarian aid consisting of 200 tons of sugar, food for disadvantaged people and 16 thousand tons of fuel oil for the emergency reserves of Moldova. The aid amounts to 16 million Romanian lei. Romania has promised also loans on favorable terms to Moldova provided the Moldovan government proves its commitment to the European reforms and restores relations with the international financial institutions. Tiraspol has announced that it is ready to resume the negotiations in the 5+ 2 format. At a meeting in Bender with the deputy prime minister for Reintegration from Chisinau, George Balan, the Transnistrian negotiator, Vitaly Ignatiev, reproached the Moldovan authorities that the latter„sabotages” the dialogue, analyzing for too long the unilateral initiatives of Tiraspol. On the other hand, a statement of the Bureau for Reintegration read that the meeting had failed, because Tiraspol„insisted on the criminal cases opened by Chisinau to some Tiraspol leaders.” Officially, the representatives of the parties involved in the 5+ 2 negotiation format have not had negotiations since June 2014. European Commissioner for Enlargement, Johannes Hahn, said the EU will continue to support the government in Chisinau, but only if the necessary reforms are conducted. The statement was made Monday, March 14, at a joint press conference in Brussels, along with the Moldovan Prime Minister, Pavel Filip. Johannes Hahn welcomed the Moldovan government’s decision to make public the so-called roadmap and the pro-European government programme„in order to allow for the Moldovan citizens to see where the current government is heading to, despite the political fragility of Chisinau that the authorities in Brussels are well aware of.” On the 14th and 15th of March, the Prime Minister, Pavel Filip, paid his first official visit to Brussels, where he attended the second meeting of the Moldova- EU Association Council and where he met with Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament. Prime Minister Pavel Filip said that the visit to Brussels was“a first step in restoring trust and dialogue with the European institutions” and promised that his government would make real reforms. On the other hand, in an interview to the Radio Free Europe, Sigfried Muresan, MEP regretted that in Brussels, the Prime Minister Pavel Filip had no„concrete answers to concrete questions”. Muresan, a member of the EU-Moldova Delegation, reminded that a government is pro-European not only in declarations, but also in deeds:„The government should move from declarations of intent to actions.” Moldova- EU Civil Society Association Platform has announced that it would monitor the fulfillment of the outstanding commitments as agreed by the Association Council meeting from March 14th. The Governmental Commission for European Integration found out that the Chisinau authorities had failed to meet the deadlines in case of 18 actions of the roadmap for implementation of the Association Agreement. Prime Minister Pavel Filip warned that the institutions responsible for the delays will be penalized. The meeting of the European Integration Committee was held one day after the Moldovan Prime Minister’s visit to Brussels, where the European officials asked him to do real reform, not just promises, if he wants to restore the confidence and get new assistance. Phil Batson: The major risk is that the establishment does not learn from its mistakes and continues to pay lip service to the reform process T he British Ambassador to Chisinau, Phil Batson, encourages the political class in Moldova to continue the reforms under the Association Agreement with the European Union, even if Monthly Bulletin, Nr. 3(120), March 2016 64, Sciusev str. MD-2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, Tel-Fax:+373 22 21 09 86 Website: www.ape.md E-mail: office@ape.md